1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to gas burner attachments and more particularly to a stovetop wok cooking system utilizing a wok support ring with a versatile leg assembly for utilization on varying stovetop designs; and, a flame focusing ring for encircling a gas burner and directing the flames upwardly and inwardly to concentrate the flame on the bottom center of a wok.
The present invention also relates to improvements in utensils, especially household utensils, and more particularly to improvements in household utensils including those known as woks and analogous cookware which can be utilized for stir-frying meats, fish, vegetables and/or other edible foodstuffs.
2. Description of the Related Art
The development of the traditional wok by the Chinese over 2,500 years ago was necessary from the tough living conditions in China. Scarce supply of firewood forced the frugal Chinese to devise the present day methods of flash-flame cooking or better known as stir-fry.
The stir-frying technique involves the use of a Chinese wok, which usually requires cooking of vegetables and meats for very short time periods at high heat. In a typical stir-fry recipe, the cooking time is three to five minutes, or less. The health benefits of short-time cooking with minimal use of fats are substantial. Less fat is absorbed by the food being cooked in a wok than with western methods and resulting fat intake by the consumer is at a minimum. In addition to the health benefits, the flavor of the food, particularly vegetables, is substantially retained by the high heat searing of the food surfaces.
Chinese restaurants can attain these high temperatures by using commercial burners that reach over 200,000 BTU's (British Thermal Units). The typical American gas stove burner outputs an average 7,000 to 18,000 BTU's maximum. The commercial burners are able to bring the surface temperature of the wok to over 700 degrees F. to impart what Chinese experts say is the elusive “Wok Hei”. “Hay”, the Cantonese Chinese pronunciation, or “chi” or “qi”, the Mandarin Chinese pronunciations (the ones most familiar to the non-Chinese reader), is breath—the Chinese concept of vital energy that flows through the body. Chinese chefs stress that Wok Hei must be achieved on the surface of the wok as the primary directive. This is not an issue for Chinese restaurants.
For wok cooking on a regular gas stovetop, Wok Hei is quite elusive because of the insufficient amount of BTU's generated by the average domestic gas stove. This has given rise to a number of innovative wok designs in addition to the traditional cast-iron or stamped carbon steel woks that have entered the market. Today's Asian woks are manufactured in stainless steel, flat bottom, layered-steel/aluminum/steel, aluminum Teflon coated and electric/Teflon bottom. These types of woks have lured cooks away in the past, however, many devotees are returning to the faithful old cast iron or stamped carbon steel wok, because they respond most readily to changes in heat. Their thin gauge allows less time to heat up in preparation for cooking. Most commercially available Asian woks address certain aspects; heating, convenience and utility, however, they all are band-aids and miss their mark on the biggest issue in wok cooking: hi-temperature heat or Wok Hei.
Present day conventional gas stove burners are designed to take on all types of currently mass produced cookware. Practically all cookware is flat bottomed in nature. The typical western style stove burner emits a flame that fans outwardly as a pot or pan is placed on it. This design is most effective because it takes advantage of the entire flat surface area of the cookware.
In the case of the Asian wok, it's the opposite. The wok's unique round bottom and western burner causes the flame from a typical stovetop gas jet to mushroom out to its edges. This is an inherent design flaw of a round bottom type wok working in conjunction with a stove. The wok and the conventional stovetop jet burner are not a compatible match.
One of the main problems with the use of the wok in western kitchens is that it does not adapt well on electric and gas ranges. The wok was developed for use by placing it directly on rings with a wide based fire built underneath. However, the cooking surfaces utilized, particularly in the west, are typically flat for delivering heat to flat bottomed cooking vessels such as frying pans or sauce pans. The round dome surface of the wok does not adapt well to cooking on modern electric and gas ranges. Various methods have been utilized in attempts to overcome this problem.
One method involves modifying the structure of the wok itself. The production of flat bottomed woks for resting in a stable manner on a flat range top, has been done either by making the wok wall a uniform thickness and having both inside and outside have a flat bottom, in which case the wok is a little more than a high sided frying pan with all its inherent disadvantages, or by building the outside of the wok up only to leave a spherical cooking surface with a flat exterior surface. The disadvantage of this method is the cooking technique in spatula manipulation, i.e., movement of a metal spatula from a round surface to a flat plane. This can be discerning to those more accustomed to round bottomed woks. Flat bottomed woks do not permit the sweeping, surface-scooping motion of the round-edged spatulas used in wok cooking; where rapid, fluid motions are essential for effective stir-frying; and, flat bottomed woks do not permit the user to rock the wok smoothly over the heating surface in order to efficiently spread other ingredients to the food being cooked in the wok while keeping the wok in full contact with the heating surface. The other disadvantage of this method is that the weight and mass of the wok is increased.
Another modification to the wok has been the use of electric woks wherein the heating elements are arrayed in a partially spherical design at the bottom of the wok to provide even heat distribution. These woks are typically quite expensive and have the same disadvantages as the flat bottomed wok's unwieldiness. Their heat control thermostats are not sensitive enough for the quick temperature changes stir-frying demands. Another disadvantage of electric woks is that most of them are Teflon coated, which give rise to a potential health issue associated with the inhaling of toxic fumes when the surface temperature exceeds 450 degrees F.
Those who wish to attain the advantage of cooking in a traditional thin walled wok have been forced either to abandon the use of modern ranges or else to utilize some form of interface adapter between the range and the wok. The alternate heating methods are less than desirable since they force the user to abandon the range top, the most commonly used cooking area in the kitchen. Thus, interface adapters have become popular.
The interface adapters manufactured to date have been rings or collars which are adapted to fit on the range element surface to provide a circular ring upper surface into which the wok bottom nests in a fairly stable fashion. Lack of stability is a major disadvantage of prior art interface adapters.
Electrical range elements are typically spiral elements with spaces between different portions of the element. In this manner, the bottom surface of the adapter ring will typically rest partially on the element and partially on the spans between portions of the element. Since the shape and size of the electrical elements varies drastically from stove to stove, this can often result in an unstable circumstance. Instability can be a great disadvantage since spillage of cooking oil can lead to kitchen fires and severe burns to the user.
The problem is even more notable in gas ranges which typically have only an open latticework frame to support the cooking vessel with wide spaces between the various elements of the frame. There is a greater danger of instability of the adapter rings on this sort of latticework than even on the electrical elements.
Another disadvantage of prior art adapter rings or collars is that the heat is delivered to the wok in an uneven fashion. Thermal energy is delivered directly by conduction to the ring portion of the wok where the top of the adapter ring and the wok directly interface. However, the remaining portions of the wok must either be heated by radiant energy or by indirect conduction. Consequently, a hot ring area may develop part-way up the sides of the wok, particularly if the wok is constructed of less than optimal material. This provides for uneven cooking and does not provide the maximum heat to the very bottom of the wok where most of the actual cooking takes place.
In summary, a regular home stovetop gas jet burner normally spreads flames outwardly away from the center to cover a large area on a flat pan, which is not effective for a wok which needs a very hot flame in the bottom center of the wok, and ordinary home stoves are unsatisfactory for supporting spherical bottoms of Asian wok cooking vessels.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,006,676, issued on Feb. 8, 1977 to Adamis, discloses a crepe pan that is adapted to distribute the batter over the flat exposed bottom surface of the bottom of the pan. A base locates and supports the pan in position and is so dimensioned as to surround the flame and distribute the heat evenly over the flat bottom of the pan; the weight distribution of the pan and its handle being such that the pan will be firmly seated around a suitable flange on a shoulder adjacent the flange of the substantially cylindrical base.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,315,983, issued May 31, 1994 to Law, describes a wok support ring comprising a two-piece support ring structure for supporting a wok cooking vessel on top of a burner cylinder of a cooking range. The structure features two components: a top ring of a substantially circular shape upon which sits a wok; and a base ring having a substantially circular shape that removably rests on the burner cylinder. The top ring removably rests on the base ring. The base ring itself comprises a first ring and a first mating means disposed on top of the first ring for removably coupling the base ring to the top ring. The top ring comprises a second ring upon which sits the wok and a second mating means projecting from the bottom of the second ring for removably coupling the top ring to the first mating means. The base ring further comprises a third mating means for removably coupling the base ring to the burner cylinder.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,775,316, issued Jul. 7, 1998 to Jones, describes a cooking range with interchangeable grate and wok ring mounted thereon. The range supports the wok ring and the grate over a gas fired burner element. The grate and the wok ring include a support plate which selectively engages the cooking range in a preferred orientation. The wok ring includes a preferred configuration of the support ring.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,345,062, issued Sep. 6, 1994 to Maudal, discloses a support stand which adapts an Asian WOK to a Western kitchen range. The stand provides an upper ring to receive a round bottomed WOK; the ring has sufficient diameter to accommodate the WOK securely in the stand. The base of the stand adapts to prior art drip pans placed in heating wells, where the well has gas or electrical heating elements located according to the type of range, and thus anchors the stand to the kitchen range top. A second concept modifies existing drip pans to provide both the functions of drip pan and support stand in a single, combined support stand. This stand replaces existing stands and drip pans and anchors the WOK to the kitchen range top. A third concept converts a prior WOK fire ring into a trivet allowing use of the WOK at a dinner table.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,718,967, issued Apr. 13, 2004 to Luther, discloses a wok support for use in a wok range which incorporates a refractory insulating material into its structure. The wok support includes a tubular support structure having internal space in its wall. The refractory insulating material is disposed in the internal space.
U.S. Pat. No. D250,931, issued Jan. 30, 1979 to Pierce, provides the ornamental design for a gas saving grate.
U.S. Pat. No. D364,534, issued Nov. 28, 1995 to Brown, discloses the ornamental design for an adapter for elevating an accessory above a stove heating element.
U.S. Pat. No. D545,124, issued Jun. 26, 2007 to Hawkins, discloses the ornamental design for a wok ring.
While a number of prior art wok supports have been attempted to be used with gas burners on stove tops (as well as some for use with electric coils) and a number of rings of various types for focusing flames of stovetop gas burners, none of the aforementioned patents provide a ring for focusing gas jet stovetop burners in combination with a universal wok support to fit a wide variety of stovetop grates and suspend a wok an effective distance above the gas jet to receive the full effect of the focused gas jet on the bottom center of the wok.
In partial response to this problem, present applicant invented and is the patentee of U.S. Pat. No. 7,694,671, issued on Apr. 13, 2010, entitled, “Flame Focusing Ring for Stovetop Gas Burner and Universal Wok Support.” The '671 patent discloses a very effective flame focusing ring.
As will be disclosed below, the present invention can be utilized with the flame focusing ring, providing an enhanced more secure and safe platform for the wok and enhanced performance of the focus ring. The present invention serves to optimize the flame signature at the optimal height. Laterally sliding leg assemblies provide for varying stove grates. As will be disclosed below, the present invention includes embodiments for varying the height of the wok support assembly depending on the size of the focus ring used and the grating of the stovetop.
A high percentage of the work of a chef in a Chinese restaurant, of a housewife or of one or more persons in another establishment which serves stir-fried foods consists in the manipulation of a wok, heavy with food, over a high flame. Such persons frequently or invariably experience arm and wrist pains after long hours of working, with the wok in hand, to turn out hundreds or even smaller numbers of courses of entrees consisting of or containing stir-fried foodstuffs. The result is a repetitive motion-induced injury known as or similar to the so-called carpal tunnel syndrome. In addition, the hand of a chef who is in charge of manipulating a wok is often burned by droplets of hot oil and/or sauces which are normally admixed to the solid foodstuffs in the bowl of a wok. As will be disclosed below, certain features of the present invention will mitigate these problems.